Eastern Bank Sells 9,788 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Eastern Bank decreased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 5.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 184,556 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 9,788 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 1.1% of Eastern Bank's portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Eastern Bank's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $73,326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $65,796,000 after purchasing an additional 53,485 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $104,774,000 after buying an additional 29,230 shares during the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at about $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,453,000 after buying an additional 4,659 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $253.00 to $351.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Mizuho set a $415.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Roth Capital reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $300.00 price objective (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Benchmark boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $430.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $391.32.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW traded up $2.06 on Monday, hitting $405.30. 1,335,142 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,310,553. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $362.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $285.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $331.53 billion, a PE ratio of 793.77, a P/E/G ratio of 11.61 and a beta of 0.93. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $409.50.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director John P. Key sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total value of $940,075.00. Following the sale, the director owned 10,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,760,300. The trade was a 20.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 260 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.69, for a total transaction of $102,099.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,836,611.13. This represents a 5.27% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,260 shares of company stock valued at $20,804,474. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.

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